2. Accessorize: “Ugly hats are really good,” Howard says. What I often wear, I got really cheap online— its an ugly sweater trucker hat.” He adds that a Santa hat or a Menorah-inspired hat is always a crowd-pleaser.

Finally, Howard has good news for devotees of the ugly sweater party. He says from his perspective the tradition, “has been growing exponentially,” since he first wrote a story about it for a lifestyle site, The Daily Green, in 2008. And Blackman’s traffic is up nearly four times over last year’s, Howard says.